The Israel Defense Forces and Defense Establishment Archives (IDFA) was established in July 1948, during Israel's War of Independence.

IDFA keeps Israeli military documentation of all sorts, including files, publications, audio and video, photographs, maps and posters.

IDFA and its subsidiaries also house documentation of Jewish military organizations which were active before the establishment of the State of Israel, such as "Haganah", "Lehi" and "Hashomer", as well as a collection dedicated to Jewish Soldiers in the Armed Forces Worldwide.

Files and documents can be declassified, by regular procedure, after fifty years. The declassification of later files is possible under the authorization of a special committee. As of December 2008, about 32,500 declassified files were available to the public.